Chapter 20 Fire Fighting (Part 2)
"I am willing to pay eight hundred talents, and Crassus is willing to pay five hundred talents and form a fleet. Caesar cannot afford it, but he can coordinate with the Senate and grant the right to form a new legion. This new The legion will be based on the previous counter-rebellion army and can use the Eagle Flag. If there is no accident, it will be the Thirteenth Legion!" Luculas spoke faster, "You join in and go out as my agent. Otishai, don’t think you owe me a favor, Calabis, I have no other wish but to destroy Pompey’s majesty before I die.”
As we all know, Pompey, who was very proud of himself in the East, had already instructed his followers in Rome to build a great momentum, saying that after conquering Petra and capturing Mithridates, he hoped that the Senate would grant him the second triumph in his life. , the great triumph.
Luculas and Crassus wanted to destroy Pompey's prestige and prevent him from being too proud and domineering. Now Malza's letter gave these two a good opportunity. The agent Caesar bribed the fortune teller many times. It means that the danger of the city of Rome is close at hand, and flocks of flying crows come from the east, with their feathers stained with the frost of the Thracian Mountains (I don’t know how the diviner judged it) - Caesar then explained the meaning of divination: Mithridates did not lie dormant. He would follow Colchis and the Caucasus Mountains to the Kingdom of Bosphorus, and then go south to Thrace and Macedonia, threatening the security of the republic. Therefore, the province of Macedonia must send a newly formed legion to assist Malcha. Of course, it is best to defeat Mithridates, cut off his head, or capture him, so that Pompey's merits will be taken away. .
Crassus secretly expressed to Caesar that everything should be at ease. According to intelligence, Mithridates was followed by only a few thousand slaves and 3,000 soldiers, but he brought with him a full six thousand talents of money. "This It’s a transaction without any risk and with huge returns.” At this point, Crassus’ goldfish eyes shone with strange brilliance, and he had made a plan for six thousand talents: he would first tamper with the account books and only pay three thousand to the treasury of the Republic. , two thousand for himself, six hundred to pay Caesar's debt, and four hundred as the salary of Calabis, the agent.
At this time, a move by the patron interrupted Calabis's thoughts. Tuna took out the gold ring engraved with "Calabis Marcos" and said, "When you think about it for the second time, come on." ”
This time, Calabis put down the scissors, slowly took out the tuna ring, and put it on his ring finger. Then he turned around. Luculas picked up the bronze mirror, looked at Calabis's finger, and smiled. Said: "It suits your pretty fingers well, my child, and you are now obliged to do so, please always remember."
Calabis knelt down, took the patron's hand with both hands, put it in the middle, placed it on his forehead, and murmured to himself, "From now on, I will be the eyes of you and Marcus, and Sword and shield, may no enemy be able to harm my adoptive father Marcus, may Apollo's light shine on the night like day, may Apollo's bow shoot through any darkness, my blood, my name, is for you. Loyal, father.”
"Calabis, can you tell me now—where do you come from?"
After hearing what the patron said, Calabis thought for a while and said: "I am a descendant of the Eastern God. My ancestor is the god in charge of war. He wears a helmet with golden wings on his head, has a thick beard, and nose hair. Surging like a snake, his left hand holds a tower that can shoot thousands of bows and arrows, and his right hand holds a trident that can pierce the sky. His god's name is Rex. King's meaning)."
The patron nodded slightly. This Easterner is roughly equivalent to the descendant of Mars and Bellow here.
"What will you do to Claudia and Claudius?" Luculas slowly withdrew his hand and asked.
"If nothing else happens, the Thirteenth Legion will be under the name of Neruda, the governor of Macedonia who is about to take office. For the sake of military merit, Claudius will definitely join the Thirteenth Legion before he takes office as tribune, and then go to Bosporus Si Gan has a vote. Foster father, I will not turn against them for the time being, and I will also provide money to Claudia. What she and her brother need most now is money. "
"It doesn't matter, just do what you want. Just remember to sharpen your fangs and let any enemy come back with feathers." After Luculas finished speaking, he brushed off his short hair and walked out of the circle. Dingting, walked to Marcos's side and began to greet his brother.
Calabis, who was still kneeling on the ground, put his fingers together and raised them up. The light of the ring flashed across his face, and the inscription "Calabis Cornelius Marcus F" was clearly reflected on his face. In the eyes as black as a pool, the pupils could not help but tremble slightly.
The pure iron fence was pulled open with a rumble, and a dozen gladiators wearing helmets lined up in two rows and slowly ran out of the dark long upward corridor. At the exit of the corridor, the white light became increasingly bright. The louder it got, the louder and clearer the shouts of the audience were in their ears. Finally, the vision of all the sword fighting slaves was completely shrouded in white light, causing dizziness in front of their eyes, until the tens of thousands of spectators sitting around the Colosseum shouted. The shouts that resounded through the sky brought their thoughts back to the blood-soaked sand field. The sunlight poured down from the ceiling. There were scattered flower petals everywhere. There were people with their hands in the air everywhere, dressed in ragged clothes. Several corpses of the defeated, neatly dressed and with bloody flesh on the sand field, were dragged away upside down by slaves using rope hooks. The blood stains left behind were quickly absorbed by the continuous sand and disappeared.
"The next one to appear is the hero who bravely captured the Cimbri eagle flag during Catiline's rebellion, Carapis Cornelius Marcus!" The announcer standing on the mid-air rotating stand of the Amphitheater felt a little dizzy because there was only a wooden board between his feet and the sand field, which was nearly 30 meters high. However, he still shouted passionately, "He and his equally brave comrades will soon board a ship to the distant Euxine Sea to meet the people scattered across the Caucasus. The barbaric peoples of the forests and seas fought. The Caucasus is where Jupiter tied Prometheus to the cliff! He will establish more glorious feats than before, and when he returns, the Colosseum will be filled with seawater to demonstrate the fierce naval battle of the Euxin Sea. The funds for the competition will be borne by the censor Crassus, the high priest and governor of Spain Caesar, the triumphant general Lucullus, and Carapis himself. Let us wait and see! "(To be continued.)